ArticlePloS one2018
Cryptic "royal" subfamilies in honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fluvalinate accumulation in the beehive environment and its effects on semen quality and gene expression of drones under field conditions.Ecotoxicology (London, England) · 2026Article
- A Comprehensive Account of the Breeding Systems of the Fire AntEcology and evolution · 2025Article
- Neonicotinoid exposure increases Varroa destructor (Mesostigmata: Varroidae) mite parasitism severity in honey bee colonies and is not mitigated by increased colony genetic diversity.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2024Article
- Comparison of pooled semen insemination and single colony insemination as sustainable honeybee breeding strategies.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
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- Cutting corners: The impact of storage and DNA extraction on quality and quantity of DNA in honeybee (Frontiers in physiology · 2023Article
- Phenotypic and genetic characterization of AfricanizedFrontiers in insect science · 2023Article
- Abundant small RNAs in the reproductive tissues and eggs of the honey bee, Apis mellifera.BMC genomics · 2022Article
- Morphometric and genetic characterization as tools for selection ofFrontiers in insect science · 2022Article
- A systems-based approach to the environmental risk assessment of multiple stressors in honey bees.EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2021Article
- Article
- Injection of seminal fluid into the hemocoel of honey bee queens (Apis mellifera) can stimulate post-mating changes.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Sperm Quality Assessment in Honey Bee Drones.Biology · 2020Review
- Behavioral Genetics of the Interactions betweenInsects · 2019Article
- The brood parasite's guide to inclusive fitness theory.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Putative Drone Copulation Factors Regulating Honey Bee (Insects · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During emergency queen rearing, worker honey bees (Apis mellifera) select several otherwise worker-destined larvae to instead rear as candidates to replace their dead or failing queen. This choice is crucial as the queen is the sole reproductive in the colony and her quality is essential to its success. Because honey bee queens mate with and store sperm from multiple drones, emergency queen selection presents workers with an opportunity to increase fitness by selecting full- (0.75 relatedness), rather than half- (0.25 relatedness), sisters as new queen candidates. Through patriline analysis of colonies along with large numbers of emergency queens reared by each we affirm the purported "royal" patriline theory that, instead of competing nepotistically, workers exhibit bias towards selecting individuals from particular "royal" subfamilies during emergency queen rearing events, Further, we show that these "royal" patrilines are cryptic in honey bee colonies; occurring in such low frequency in the overall colony population that they are frequently undetected in traditional tests of queen mating number and colony composition. The identification of these cryptic "royal" subfamilies reveals that honey bee queens, already considered "hyperpolyandrous," are mating with even more males than has been previously recognized. These results alter our understanding of reproductive behavior in honey bees, raising questions about the evolutionary implications of this phenomenon.
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